According to today’s episode of Sherdog’s The Savage Dog Show/BeatDown, UFC majority owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta have purchased the Japenese-based PRIDE Fighting Championships for a startling-low price of $65 million. (You can find a heated discussion on the Sherdog Forums.)

The show is relying an anonymous source that is said to be “very reliable,” and an official announcement is expected to come on Wednesday.

The rumors swirling around the sale of Pride FC have been ongoing for quite some time, but things flared up again on Monday when Sherdog.com started talking about strong rumors from some of their sources, who said that the deal has finally been struck.

MMAWeekly has confirmed with our own sources, including sources in Japan that are extremely close to the situation, that the deal has indeed been reached. From what we understand, Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have come to an agreement that would put Pride in their hands. But remember, that is an agreement, not a finalized transaction. As with any business transaction as complex as the purchase of one company by another, things are never 100% finalized until the proverbial keys to the front door have finally changed hands.

With that said, unless something changes at the eleventh hour, it appears that Pride will soon fall under the ownership of the Fertitta brothers. According to our sources, the purchase is believed to include fighter contracts, Pride’s video library, and the Pride FC name brand. The issue of fighter contracts is one of the more touchy points, as there can be variables in each individual contract that will have to be dealt with, and no information has come forth that states which fighters would be included.

It was not immediately clear when the deal would be announced, although it is believed that Nobuyuki Sakikabara, the President & CEO Of Dream Stage Entertainment (Pride’s present owner), is traveling to the United States this week in regards to matters related to the agreement.

The Fight Network:

The big buzz blazing through the MMA community this afternoon is that Zuffa LLC., owners of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has successfully negotiated the purchase of PRIDE Fighting Championships from Dream Stage Entertainment.

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GracieFighter.com is saying:

In an exclusive interview, Pride USA Vice President, Jerry Millen, commented on the speculation that Pride has been bought by the Zuffa organization.

"It's bullshit. You can't beleive what you read on the internet and as a matter of fact I just got off the phone with Japan and unless I'm being lied to Pride has not been sold and is not being sold to anyone, especially to Zuffa. We are in the process of making some ground breaking deals that will be bringing in large sums of revenue to the company and making it stronger than ever."

Dave Meltzer (wrestling observer & MMA insider) is saying:

--Regarding all the Pride rumors, we've heard so much in recent days. Where there's smoke there is fire, but Pride has been close to sold so many times that I don't count on anything, particularly since sources have heard about an 11th hour fall apart once again. The funny thing is, in Japan, the belief is it is about to be sold, but not to the Fertittas. But in Japan the expectation is something will break at the next show.

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<-Seriously i dont even know what to think....could be a publicity stunt by PrideFC....or w/ the last Pride show going the way it did (seen mostly as a failure) it could be true...guess we'll see Wednesday.

dv8
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"DV8type has exceeded their stored private messages quota and can not accept further messages until they clear some space."

Originally Posted by DV8type

<< I was just commenting on your rankings....some of those are definately disputed....

---ON TOPIC:
What do you think of Pride being sold to the Fertitta Brothers?

on topic , i hope pride-japan will survive
personally i dont like all those rumors , until this formally announced you shouldnt take it too seriously
anyway i hate the ufc rules and judgment
i also prefer the ring much better than the octagon
so if the fertitta brothers going to target direct to us market and leave saitama for vegas it will be very bad imo
btw take a look at sherdog , they say there that shogun make a 2 fight contract at the ufc
what do you say ? i think its probably bullshit

Thats ridiculous...i so hope Shogun doesnt go to UFC. Just like i thought Pride USA was bullshit...i dont think NSAC rules favors Pride Fighters....
-Although i would love to see Shogun/Liddell, i wish it would happen in Japan.

>As for the rumors....i agree, but they have been consistent for the last 3+ months that Pride is selling. It would be an end of an era